UK subprime lender Provident Financial shed more than 48 percent after it issued its second profit warning in two months, cancelled its dividend and said that its chief executive was leaving.

On a positive note, Europe’s basic resources sector enjoyed a second session of gains, supported by a rally in iron ore prices.

Well-received results from miners BHP Billiton and Antofagasta also boosted the sector, with both rising around 2 percent, the top-gaining mining firms.

Shares in UK housebuilder Persimmon were also among the top gainers, up 3.1 percent after it posted a 30 percent rise in first-half profit.

The European earnings season is drawing to a close, with 87 percent of MSCI Europe firms having given updates for the second quarter.

Of these firms, more than 60 percent have either met or beaten analysts’ expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data, with earnings growth for the quarter clocking in at around 24 percent compared with the same period last year.

Aside from earnings, shares in Fiat Chrysler extended gains for a second day, up 3.1 percent at their highest level since April 1998, after China’s Great Wall Motor Co Ltd confirmed its interest in the Italian-American automaker.